Navy

SWJ contributor Robert Kozloski writes at the USNI blog about Admiral Zumwalt and his role as a change agent. A few excerpts are pasted below, but please go to the original post to see it all. See also his post on Zumwalt and the Mod Squad at the "Navy Center for Innovation Weblog." Try to navigate a little bit around their innovative weblog.

"To address the ongoing “people” issues, Zumwalt formed several retention study groups consisting of junior officers and/or enlisted Sailors from various communities to address issues affecting Sailors and their families in the fleet. These groups reported directly to the CNO (and frequently the SECNAV). From his previous experience on the OPNAV staff, Zumwalt understood that ideas from these groups would get diluted if they went through the normal staffing process."

A 1993 Be bold, be quick, and be specific in setting an agenda for change

• Keep the focus clear and consistent on that agenda
• Balance top-down management to overcome inertia with participatory management to develop sufficient consensus to counteract opposition
• Establish independent internal watchdog agencies with the power to enforce compliance
• <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/Zumwalt" href="http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/Zumwalt" s%20efforts%20to%20institutionalize%20strategic%20change%202793002200.pdf"="">Encourage innovation to ensure that change transcends one CNO’s “watch”

As the services work to figure out the shape of their future, many in the Navy and Marine Corps are inching together to "create synergies" (like a boss... on a boat).  Benjamin Armstrong writes about the virtues of maritime raiding in the February volume of Proceedings:

The Navy/Marine Corps team has a long and storied past, operating together in everything from ship versus ship combat in the Age of Sail to the mastery of small wars and the amphibious warfare that has become its staple over the past half century. Operationally, many of the successful missions conducted by the Navy/Marine Corps team have involved maritime raiding.

As the Navy welcomes the Marine Corps’ return to the sea in the 21st century following a decade of war ashore, the modern redevelopment of the historic maritime raiding capability is just as vital to the future of the Sea Services as sharpening the dulled skills needed for a full amphibious assault.